Improvement in railroad-chairs



E. ST. JOHN.

RAILROAD 111111111.

No. 38,612 Patented May 19, 1863.

sus co. woaufnm WASHINGTON u c 4,UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE.

E. str. soun, OF ELMTRA, New YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILROAD-CHAIRS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,612, dated May 19, 1863.

To aZZ whom if may concern.-

Be it known that I, E. ST. JOHN, of Elmira, in the county of Chemung and State of N ew York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in RailroadAChairs and Ido hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and 'exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specication, in which- Figure l represents a side elevation of my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same.

Similar letters of reference in both views indicate corresponding parts.

This invention consists in the employment or use of a sustaining-bar, which extends across two sleepers or cross-ties and fits into the necks of adjoining rails, and is held in place by a bed-piece supported by said two cross-ties in such a manner that said sustaining-bar receives the weight and thrust of passing trains eonjointly with the top of the rails, and, being su pported by the underlying crossties at the weak point, serves not only as a sustaining but as a reacting support to keep the rails in line and in surface.

Toenable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

A A' are adjoining rails, the ends of which are supported by the sustaining-bar B and bed-piece G. The bed-piece is made twenty; four inches long, (more or less,)and its ends or iianges a, which are to rest upon the cross-ties D, sin by seven inches, and it has lips. b b', twelve inches long, turned up on both sides, that on its inner side in shape and size of one of those on the common wrought-iron chair, but that on its outer side to be turned up so that it shall be nearly as high as the top of the rail, thus leaving an opening between its inner surface and the neck of the rail to receive the sustaining-bar. The bed-piece is intended to be let into the cross-ties to the depth of the thickness of its flanges and then spiked down by four or more spikes. The two ties are to be laid sixteen inches from center to center, each tie having eight inches face. The crossties having been laid in their proper positions and the bed piece secured to them, the rails are inserted from both ends nto the lips of said bed-piece, so as to meet midway between the cross-ties when the sustaining-bar is forced home to its place, which completes the joint.

The sustaining-bar is made long enough to extend across the two cross-ties-D, as clearly shown in Fig. l of the drawings, and it ts perfectly the necks of the rails, as shown in Fig. 2.

By this arrangement the following advantages are obtained over any other chair now in use: It forms a continuous rail, the sus taining-bar reaching from crosstie to crosstie, and, being as long as the bedpiece, is held in vplace by the large lip b of said bed-piece, and. thus keeps the meetingpoints of the rails to a surface as well as in line. It' the weight of a wheel bears down upon the point p in the rail A, the end of this rail has a tendency to spring up, and as the wheel arrives at the end Of `lthe rail said end has a tendency to spring down, causing the point p and other points of the rail to spring up. In the same manner, by pressing at the point p on the rail in a lateral direction, the end of the rail has a tend ency to spring in, and by pressing at the end of the rail in the same direction the point p and other parts ofthe rail have a tendency to spring in. These vibrations of the rail are niost effectually counteracted by the sustaining-bar B, which, being supported by two cross-ties, cannot rock as it would if it was lying on one cross-tie with its ends extending over the edges of the saine in both directions, and without bending the said sustaining-bar the rails cannot easily get out of line. For these reasons my connection presents less resistance to passing trains. The sustainingbar receives the weight and thrust of passing trains conjointly with the top of the rails, and being supported by the underlying bed-piece and by `two crossJties, serves not only as a sustaining but as a reacting support to keep the rails in surface. Furthermore, my connection costs less than those now in use for repairs of road-bed and superstructure. The bed piece resting upon two ties and having the rails meet midway between the ties serves as a chair to hold the rails in lineal position, while the sustaining'bar, lying its whole length on the iianges of therails and supported equally with the bed-piece on the two s cross ties, and aided by the material in the rails, iianges, and the additional strength derived by the turning up of the lips in the bedpiece, acts to divide the pressure at the railjoints equally along the whole length of the rails, thus removing the pressure from one crossftie, as is the result from using the common chair.

My joint is very simple in its construction. It requires no bolts or nuts, and it consists of but two pieces-the bed-piece and the sustaining-bar-extendiug over two ties.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, iss- The employment or use of the sustainingbar B., extending over two cross-tics, D, and supported by the bed-piece G, in combination with rails AA, constructed and operating as and for the purpose shown and described.

E.l ST. JOHN.

Witnesses:

WM. E. BUTTER, J. F. ROBERTS. 

